A Singaporean city dweller travels to the Thai countryside to learn more about sustainable food production and local farming knowledge. Sing Yee, a recent university graduate, shares insights from her stay, amidst conversations on farming, food, politics and development with other ASEAN youths and the host community.

In Thailand, communities still suffer impacts of the World Bank’s Pak Mun Dam over 25 years after construction started. Whilst fisheries are decimated, and the communities’ fishing culture largely lost, compensation is inadequate. Yuka Kiguchi asks what are the responsibilities of the World Bank and Government for restitution and redress?

The herding communities of the Tibetan Plateau are facing many struggles to protect their grasslands and herding livestock that are integral not only to their livelihoods but also their culture and identity. Mkha Be explains the changes and challenges facing the herding communities through a nomadic woman’s personal story.

Folktales, legends, and traditional stories that local community members tell represent their experiences and views with the environment. They play an important role when the community utilizes and sustains natural commons such as water, fisheries, forests, minerals, and land, and are in fact themselves valuable and irreplaceable commons.

Urbanization in the Mekong Region is transforming societies that were once dependent upon agricultural production. This article explores how some urban inhabitants have not fully let go of their rural traditions, raising the question can such wisdom bring a more sustainable lifestyle to urban areas?

Commons Comment

The Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project in Myanmar will establish large-scale industrial estates for export-led industrialization. Japan has recently expressed interest in investing in the Dawei SEZ. Japan’s economy has been built on this model of industrial development. This development model has caused enormous environmental and health impacts.

Minari Tsuchikawa questions whether it is appropriate for Japan to impose this type of “development” model on Myanmar rather than allow the people of Myanmar to find their own path of sustainable development.